It is a job no man would envy.
An unlucky biologist has been filmed trying to cut open a whale carcass – which exploded all over him.
The sperm whale was one of two which died this week after being beached in the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, captured on camera by the Faroese Broadcasting Corporation.
A job that takes guts: Bjarni Mikkelsen tried to cut open a sperm whale carcass which exploded in his face
Gruesome: By the time the worker on the Faroe Islands turned round to escape, it was too lateThe creatures died after becoming trapped in a narrow channel, and residents of the 50,000-strong Danish community wanted to use the skeleton of one for a museum.
So it fell to unlucky Bjarni Mikkelse, a marine biologist at the National Museum of the Faroe Islands, to cut open the carcass yesterday.
He had never cut open a whale before so he approached the pungent 45ft corpse gingerly.
As soon as he began working, the gas trapped inside exploded, spewing tons of organs and guts into the air.
The main part of the huge blast just missed him.
He told MailOnline: ‘The animal was more than two days old when we took it so we knew there would be some pressure on the inside, but nothing like what happened.
Easy does it: Marine biologist Bjarni Mikkelse approaches the 45ft whale with an extra-long sharp knife
There she blows: Without warning a trapped pocket of gas in the carcass bursts, ripping the corpse open
Within a fraction of a second the whale’s insides burst out from the carcass, showering the biologist
Organs: Mr Mikkelse stands apparently stunned as the whale’s insides fly into the air in front of him
Shock: The whale’s insides were flung for several yards across the beach in the Faroe Islands, North Atlantic
As the split-second explosion subsides the biologist begins to react and starts running away from the scene
Not a whale of a time: The unfortunate worker spins on his heels as the worst of the explosion finishes
Tough work: Thankfully Bjarni Mikkelse wore red overalls. The whale was one of two which became trapped
Tragic: The carcass still emitting gas. The whale had become trapped and was too heavy for locals to help
Gruseome history: The blast happened on the Danish Faroe Islands, which have a long history of whaling which has been called barbaric by animal rights activists. This whale’s skeleton will be used in a museum‘We couldn’t imagine it would happen like that so it was a little bit more of a surprise.
‘It wasn’t a shock. We had expected something. In the situation I was more worried about something worse happening or anyone getting hurt.
‘We were cutting along the dorsal part of the animal so when it exploded it did so in a very controlled way.
‘It was very loud, I suppose. It’s something everyone here is talking about.’
Footage of the incident, which happened at 2pm yesterday, has already been seen on YouTube more than 300,000 times.
The islands are 200 miles north of Scotland but have been under the banner of Denmark for 200 years, after previously being ruled by Norway.
People on the Faroe Islands have been hunting pilot whales for centuries, but the practice has been condemned as cruel and unnecessary by animal rights groups.
Despite the gory incident, the locals are still determined to put the skeleton in their museum as a reminder of their culture, and they are already busy cutting up the remains of the carcass.
The whale’s flesh will be thrown away.
Read more: Daily Mail
